Labor weekend was a good time to get a few jobs done around the house, so I decided to replace the pressure switch in the well house. It had been causing some harsh words whenever we did the laundry as it would start to quit on us halfway through a wash. I drained the system, turned off the power and changed the switch without a hitch. The hitches came when I went to re-pressurize the tank. I realized that the 12v air compressor would not reach all the way up to the well house, so I would have to do it with a foot pump. That was going okay, considering it was 95 deg and I had the same amount of room in the well house as a sardine in a tin. Halfway through pumping it up, I turned my head and cracked it against the heat lamp bulb, breaking the bulb and splitting my head open on the broken glass. I rushed into the house with blood pouring from the wound and instinctively went to the back bathroom to clean the wound. I was doing this while trying not to alert Lea Ann to the blood everywhere, as she faints at the sight of blood, and there was a lot of it. Stood in front of the basin, I then realized there was no water to wash the wound. Only one thing for it, I called to Lea Ann that I needed her to go out to the well house. She called back from the living room 'Okay' while still chatting with one of our friends on the phone. 'Now please!' I called. 'Okay, I'm going' she replied, while still chatting to her friend on the phone. 'Um, I'm bleeding here!'
'Oh crap' she replied as she said good bye to the friend and dashed out of the door. 'Turn the freaking water on for me!' Moments later the water started coming out of the faucet and I was able to clean all the blood off and check the wound.
I was soon back out at the well house and before long had the system back up and running.
Later in the day, Lea Ann happened to mention that the toilet in our bathroom was not filling up very quickly. I checked it and realized that the water supply to that end of the house was down to a trickle. It took me a few minutes to realize that there was a bunch of sand in the faucets and the cistern valve to the toilet. I eventually managed to clean it all out and everything was running perfectly. I was finally happy with the job done.
The next day was Sunday, the day I do our laundry. I put the first load in and away it went, until it came to the first rinse and the water supply stopped. Cussing profusely under my breath, I went back to the well house and flicked the breaker switch off and on. Nothing. The pump had decided to stop altogether.
I eventually came to the conclusion that it was now a job for the professionals. But there was another problem. It was Labor Day weekend and there would be no one available until Tuesday. Tuesday came and Lea Ann phoned a few companies and we eventually chose one from a nearby town. But they could not come out until the following Monday. This meant we would have to ration bottled water, fill the toilets from buckets filled from either friends houses or school, shower either at friends houses or school and do our laundry anywhere we could.
The guys came out on the Monday, and they pulled the pump, pipe and cable up out of the well. The pump definitely had packed up, but they said as far as they could tell, the pipe and cable were perfectly okay. This was good news as the price of $2000 they had quoted was for all three items to be replaced. This would knock $400 off the bill. But they said they did not have a pump with them and would have to order it. It should be here by Wednesday at the latest and we would have water back on by Thursday at the latest. They also had mentioned that the old pump was about twenty five years old and usually these pumps had a service life of about twelve years, so if we get the same life out of the new one I will be happy.
Thursday came and went and they had not turned up. Lea Ann phoned them and they said the pump had not come in but it was due the next morning and they would be out with it as soon as it arrived.
It didn't turn up. By this time we were experts at water management but really sick of not having running water. It's not until you don't have it, that you realize how much modern life revolves around running water. I don't think being without power is as bad as being without water. Anyway the company promised us that the pump had been sourced from another supplier, it would be in on Monday morning and they would be out with it as soon as possible. Monday morning came and guess what? They phoned to say all their crews were out on emergency jobs after the storms over the weekend.
They eventually came out on Tuesday and fitted the new pump without a hitch. Relief is not the word to describe how we all felt. After sixteen days without water, we have all learned to appreciate the value of that very simple liquid.
